Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is an 86-acre resort between Fort Lauderdale and Miami owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The hotel has 500 guest rooms and 63 suites in a 12-story Mediterranean-style tower. Open since 2004, the resort features a 145,000-square-foot casino, a 4 1/2-acre pool area with water slide and Seminole Chickee-style poolside cabanas. It is a AAA Four-Diamond resort located on the Seminole's Hollywood Reservation. Guests arriving at the hotel and casino are greeted by a 50-foot neon guitar modeled after one played by Jimi Hendrix. Both the hotel and casino showcase one-of-a-kind pieces of music memorabilia, including many signed by the artists. Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood pay homage to several rock music genres, including the originators of rock music, the British Invasion, heavy metal, legends of soul, and Southern rock. Among the stars represented are: Elvis, The Beatles, Madonna, Elton John, Aerosmith, The Who, the Rolling Stones, as well as South Florida's Gloria Estefan and the Bee Gees. In 2007, the hotel hosted a weeklong Rock the Game Super Bowl XLI celebration featuring the 25th Annual NFL Alumni Player of the Year Awards Show Presented by Samsung. Red carpet events have included The Sopranos cast finale viewing and party featuring James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Steve Van Zandt and Tony Sirico. It has also hosted Shaquille O'Neal's Birthday Bash and Michael Irvin's Celebrity Weekend and so much more. Among the dining choices at the casino and resort is the Council Oak, a steak and seafood restaurant named for the old oak tree where early members of the Seminole Tribal Council regularly met. The hotel restaurants also include: Blue Plate, a diner-style restaurant; Beach Club, an outdoor cafe and pool bar; Constant Grind, a coffee and tea nook and the 250-seat food court. Guests can shop at the Hard Rock Store for everything from a Hard Rock leather jacket to swimwear and casual clothing, bathrobes and beach towels, sunglasses and gift items. A Seminole retail store showcasing custom, handcrafted Native American items is also located near the front entrance. The casino is the largest in Florida with more than 140,000 square feet of gaming space featuring 50 poker tables and 2,400 gaming machines including Wheel of Fortune, Double Diamond, Red, White & Blue, and Five Times Pay. It is open 24 hours a day. Valet and self-parking is available. There are more than 7,000 parking spaces including surface parking for more than 4,000 spaces and a parking garage for nearly 3,500 vehicles are available. This year, the hotel completed construction of the new Lucky Street Garage offering an additional 2,300 spaces. The resort also includes a spa and fitness center and Seminole Paradise, a 300,000-square-foot retail and entertainment complex featuring 22 retail shops, 17 restaurants and 11 nightclubs and lounges. The restaurants include Tequila Ranch, Tatu, Renegade Barbeque, Hooters and Blue Point Ocean Grill. Nightclubs included Pangaea, Spirits, Gryphon, and Passion. The Seminole Tribe of Florida also operates a hotel and casino in Tampa. The tribe opened the first Indian bingo hall in the United States in 1979, helping to spark the American Indian gaming movement. Since 1938, the tribe has grown from three to seven reservations in Florida, with about 3,300 tribal members worldwide. An elected Tribal Council provides education, healthcare, house and other governmental services to its members. The Seminole Tribe of Florida is believed to be the first Native American Indian Tribe to acquire a major international corporation, Hard Rock International, Inc. The corporation includes 123 Hard Rock Cafes, seven hotel and casinos and one stand-alone casino in 45 countries. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is located at 1 Seminole Way in Hollywood, Florida. The phone number is 954-327-ROCK or 1-800-937-0010. The Web address is www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com .